The Young Turks - TYT Extended Clip - February 21st, 2020

Episode Date: February 22, 2020

Pete Buttigieg just launched a really dishonest attack on Bernie Sanders. Ana Kasparian, Dan Evans, and Adrienne Lawrence discuss on The Young Turks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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All right, welcome to the show, Adrian Lawrence and Dan Evans here with you. We are about to have a show, so let's do it, let's get started with the first story. So, Pete Buttigieg continues his bad faith attacks on various progressives, specifically Bernie Sanders, and that's the wrong B-roll. So let's wait for a minute until we get the right B-roll and we'll continue the story. So Pete Buttigieg continues his bad faith attacks on Bernie Sanders, and he claims that Sanders is taking super PAC money. But that's actually not the case at all.

He's taking pack money from progressive organizations. But the way that Pete Buttigieg is fundraising makes it appear as though Bernie Sanders is being corrupted by corporate packs. So Buttigieg came under fire from progressives after claiming in a series of tweets Thursday evening that his rival for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders, is being backed by nine dark money groups and likening the Vermont senator to billionaire Michael Bloomberg. So here's what he wrote in a series of tweets, by the way, and it was his attempt at fundraising. He said, but here's the reality.

With Michael Bloomberg in the race and with nine dark money groups supporting Bernie Sanders, the goalposts have changed. Now some of the organizations that have backed Bernie Sanders have responded, including the Sunrise Movement, which gave Pete Buttigieg a very simple message. Say our names Pete Buttigieg, we dare you, which I particularly enjoy. Also the nine groups, as the Democratic Socialists of America pointed out in a tweet, are grassroots organizations powered by people of color, immigrants, youth, working class people, and democracy defenders. And here's what that tweet looked like. It was a list of all of the different groups

that support Bernie Sanders, all of which support disenfranchised Americans. So what do you guys think about this? There's a lot of bad faith actors out there, putting forward a lot of bad faith attacks on people who are trying to do good in the world. We would know a lot about that. So we just wanted to get your thoughts on what's going on. Right. I'm currently wondering if by organizations of color, is that what Pete Buttigieg accidentally meant by dark money? Like that time, he flubbed that statement when he was referring to money of unspecified origin, which has been talked about a lot on this show, the role of money in politics. But it's funny that Pete Buttigieg says that Bernie has moved

the goalpost when Pete Buttigieg is the king of moving the goalpost. He moved the goalpost with Medicare for all, making it Medicare for all who want it. And he's moving the goalposts on dark money. He originally ran saying that he wasn't going to take this suspicious like corporate money. He at least like changed the terms versus corporate money versus super pack money. It's all muddied now, barely means anything anymore. But like Pete has turned around on that and is taking as many corporate donors as he can. We called him Wine Cave Pete for a reason.

And it's funny because when you just were trying to explain it and you were saying money of unknown origin, I really thought you were going to say money of color. That really had me in that moment, because we know Pete Buttigieg kind of struggles between dark money and black money. But anyway, I also struggles with black people, but yes. Oh, very true, yeah, that'd be it. I think that this is all kind of a reflection of that, the fact that he's not winning in what would be a fair way by addressing issues that he has with communities of color, or more or less

issues they have with him and his failure to acknowledge his problems, so to speak, and really kind of just going low in really trying to knock down Burrower. Bernie as opposed to addressing the actual facts and what we have going on. And it just seems like he's almost conceding the fact that he's not doing as well by virtue of the fact that he's really just making this a nonsense statement and trying to attribute it to Bernie Sanders campaign. Yeah, I mean, he's ripping a page out of the neoliberal playbook. This is the way that they operate.

They don't have policy proposals that are popular with the people. They don't have a message that resonates with people. He doesn't have the ability to plant the seeds for a movement that matters. And so he just has to play dirty politics and prey on the vulnerable to spread his nonsense propaganda that's easily, easily debunkable. And that's what we're talking about right here. Now, I think that there could be a fair discussion about whether candidates should take pack money, period, right?

Whether it's a non-corporate pack or corporate packs. Corporate packs certainly are much worse, considering the corruption that comes along with it, the inherent corruption. I could argue the same when it comes to other non-corporate packs as well. So I think that's fair game, but he's purposely coming from a place of dishonesty here and people have called him out and I'm grateful that that happens because far too often the truth never comes out and people get painted in an unfair way. Yeah, and if I could speak like this is yet another in a series of instances in which

the Pete Buttigieg's campaign has been very mistruthful. I do love to dwell on it because I will make this the hill I die on. The thing about Pete Buttigieg, he constantly claims he has black support, he doesn't. Never mind the thing I've harped on about where he faked black support in South Bend when the people of color in South Bend really don't like the way that he handled things as mayor. Never mind the Douglas plan where he lied about people's names being on it that were black who supported his plan for racial justice that neither provided racial justice or was even endorsed by those people. And even this recently this week, he said that Keegan Michael Key of Key and Peel fame, endorsed him when all he was doing was going to a get out to vote event for him. He's this desperate to show that he has support that isn't there.

And it's the pattern that I wanted to point it, because this is how he would govern his president, he would promise these things, and then immediately turn behind your back with the same can't speak Spanish smile and just lie to the people. Look, I know that I, I'm Armenian, but I get it, I'm blonde, I have light skin, so I feel weird making this comment as a white looking woman, right? But I just hate the way race politics is discussed in the horse race. I think that it makes people feel like nothing more than objects that need to be won or obtained. And like even well-meaning people on the left, when they're running, like whether it's congressional

races or this presidential race, people are people, they have lives, they have unique experiences and world views, like the way that Pete Buttigieg especially, you know, just kind of wants to own people for his campaign or pretend like people are supporting him or endorsing him. It's gross. All of it is gross. And I hate the way that the horse race is discussed in the media by these candidates. These are people. So how about instead of pretending like certain people endorse you, why don't you actually address

the very real issues that were in your own hometown, or I shouldn't say hometown, but your own small town that you were the mayor of. No, exactly. And I completely and totally appreciate the point you make because essentially you can tell when a candidate does not have good relations necessarily with a group because they essentially treat that group, number one, like it's a monolith. Right.

But number two, like, I just need to get like your head liaisons. And that means you all are going to support me as opposed to getting to know the issues that impact us on a daily basis. And leaving room for us to have our own individuality and nuances as well. well. And it's just, it's remarkable how so many individuals want leadership positions, yet they haven't even tried to figure out what are the issues important to the people they want to lead. And I think the Democratic Party has taken the black vote for granted over and over and over again. And so I don't, I don't think that the African American community is a monolith.

And I certainly don't buy the narrative that bad faith actors like Candace Owens tries to push, But I do think that for the very honest critique of the Democratic Party and how they haven't actually served the unique obstacles for African Americans in America, that's legitimate. That's a legitimate critique, legitimate concern, something that should be addressed. And it shouldn't just be something to exploit for political gain during an election. All right, well let's move on to, let's move from one disappointing politician to the next. And there's a plethora of them. So Warren happens to be won.

So let's discuss. All right. Into a nomination or to be president of the United States. I don't think any billionaire ought to be able to do it. And I don't think people who suck up to billionaires in order to fund their campaigns ought to do it. That's Elizabeth Warren talking a big talk during the debate that took place. I believe in Iowa, but it was recent. It was early February when she made those.

when she made those statements, and she even went further to attack and be dishonest about other opponents and what they're accepting in PAC money. But before we get to that, let me just give you the big update to this story. She's now taking PAC money, and she's defending her decision to do so. So according to CNBC, Senator Elizabeth Warren revised her position on rejecting Super PAC support, as she seeks a comeback in the Democratic presidential primary, a super PAC backing one. Warren called Persist PAC, obviously this is a PAC specifically for her, filed paperwork with a federal election commission on Tuesday.

The group immediately began airing television ads in Nevada showing former President Barack Obama praising the senator. And that makes a lot of sense because there are literally hundreds of former Obama officials who have endorsed Elizabeth Warren and now some of whom work on her campaign. And this is a little bit of an issue. A, there's the hypocrisy component to it, of course. But we also don't know who's funding this political action committee. The group has spent $1.7 million on television advertisements in Nevada and South Carolina,

and that's according to the medium buying an ad buying a firm. The Super PAC's donors will not be publicly disclosed until after Nevada and South Carolina hosts their nominating contests this month. And I want to give you Warren's justification for doing this. But before I do so, I just want to again remind you of what she's. claimed of other candidates. I heard everyone here talking about, as Democrats, we all want to overturn citizens united because we want to end this unlimited spending.

Yeah, except everyone on this stage, except Amy and me, is either a billionaire or is receiving help from PACs that can do unlimited spending. So again, a lot of criticism there toward others. that stage and the way that she worded it was meant to be dishonest, obviously Bernie Sanders is not a billionaire, but he accepts money from PACs, not corporate PACs, and at that time, so was Elizabeth Warren. There was no difference between what Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were doing. Just want to make that clarification.

Before I jump into her defense of taking PAC money, I wanted to get your thoughts. I see, I don't know whether this is a reflection of the fact that maybe she realized that she needs this money to go forward. So it almost makes me think of the movie Doctor Strange, where the ancient one, it turned out that she was channeling power from the dark side to make it happen, where you're kind of like, well, however it gets done, I guess, like maybe she just hit a shoulder shrugs. But definitely the hypocrisy is there, but I guess at least she acknowledged it. So Dan, I wanted to ask you about when Warren rejected taking money from big dollar donors,

right? She's like, I'm not gonna do these fundraisers, I'm not gonna have, you know, the wine cave fundraisers like Pete Buttigieg does, the DNC was very displeased because the DNC needed her to raise money for the party. And so she agreed that she would not fundraise on her behalf, but she would continue fundraising for the DNC. I felt that that distinction made little difference. And it showed like a level of dishonesty that I was concerned about.

And then now everything that I believed or suspected has come to fruition, but I know I'm framing it in a way to make you answers, and I don't mean to do that. I wanted to get your thoughts. Am I being unfair to her here? No, I mean, like, I think you have to look at this in a number of different perspectives. Like, there's the fact that the race is very heated and worn, it's not doing very well. So, like, the gloves are off. There is the fact that environmentally speaking, as far as like the political environment,

the fact that Bloomberg and Steyer are like ramping up all these advertisements is making it so all of these networks can charge more for their ad space. So people like Bernie Sanders, people like Elizabeth Warren. who have flavors of grassroots campaigning by their side, grassroots money, are having to spend more of that regular people's teachers, doctors money on these ads just to compete in the same ad space as Bloomberg. So there are these environmental factors. But still, I think the best way the Democrats can run an election is by as cleanly as possible

expressing that they're the anti-corruption party. And when you get into these kind of issues where it's very clear that Warren went back on her word a year ago to now. I mean, a lot of candidates made the bet, especially Pete Buttigieg, that you could say a bunch of stuff on the campaign trail. It wouldn't matter, because once all eyes are on you, we can run with that and we'll take over the country and, like, win the moderates. But that's not true.

We have the internet. We can look back to see what happens. And so every kind of misstep or switch in behavior is going to be looked back on as a judgment on how trustworthy you are to govern. And if Democrats are trying to run against the most corrupt person we've ever had as president and the waters are muddied around this person's integrity, it's not a winning strategy. So I am very concerned in that sense. So do you almost think like that by means necessary is maybe where she is right now because

primarily Bloomberg's stepping in and doing so well? Yeah, no, it's a great question. And maybe, you know, just to play devil's advocate, she feels backed into a corner and feels that this is the only way that she has a shot. But I think one thing that she needs to really consider is what this type of messaging does to the Democratic voters or what it communicates to Democratic voters. Because now more than ever, young voters especially, want someone who's consistent and someone who will not waver on their values.

And what this communicates is that she's willing to waver for political gain. Now the situation is terrible because the DNC has empowered and emboldened someone like Bloomberg to run and spend unlimited amounts of money. I know he's a billionaire on these ads, and so it's difficult, but there remains one candidate who's refused to take any type of corporate pack money. And to be clear, we don't know yet who's funding this pack. We don't know where the money's coming from because we won't find out until after South Carolina.

But this is just, it's a frustrating situation, I get it. But if Bernie Sanders can continue being the frontrunner by only raising money from small dollar donors and non-corporate PACs, I think that if Warren had a compelling message, she could do the same. But instead, she has wavered on her progressive values. That was certainly clear in her Medicare for all proposal. Right, yeah. And now with what she's accepting in Super PAC money.

I will say this is all making, as being someone who's involved in politics and especially the Democratic side of it, the 2016 and the 2020 election has made me more staunchly for overall voting reform. Like, not just getting private money out of politics, but publicly funding elections, making sure that Bloomberg can't, like, Super Bowl ad buy his way to 20% in the polls. Like, there's a whole shit. The fact that we even have these difference between, well, there's super PACs, but then there's corporate PACs.

And there's these, like, it's all to the regular person as you're getting to, Anna, is just going to look like corruption. And that's something that Democrats need to address. This is something that they prioritized in the House. I believe the first bill they passed in the House was, like, a, right? relatively symbolic, but a measure to enact certain voting level reforms and to go against voter suppression. But this needs to be a big thing, not only for Democrats to reclaim some of the trust they need,

but for quite frankly Bernie Sanders' agenda to be as successful as it needs to be. Yes, definitely. So from Warren, there were some justifications. Warren said that the fact that only two women didn't have super PAC support was just not right. Okay, that's again, she's intentionally. being dishonest and it's frustrating. So here's where I stand, she says, if all the candidates want to get rid of super PACs,

count me in, I'll lead the charge, but that's how it has to be. It can't be the case that a bunch of people keep them and only one or two don't. And then she says, if all the candidates want to get rid of super PACs, count me in, I'll lead the charge, but that's not how it has to be. It can't be the case where, I read that part. Now, Bernie Sanders, though, let's talk a little bit about where he's at, because she's like, you know, Obviously throwing out all sorts of accusations here, but even at CNBC, of all places, reports. Senator Bernie Sanders does not have a declared super PAC backing his bid, although the super PAC connected

to the Nurses Union, National Nurses United, which is endorsed Sanders, is supporting him. The group has spent about $400,000 on radio ads. So it's a little different. There's a lot more transparency there. We know where the money's coming from. But nonetheless, she persists. So we got to take a break. We'll be right back.

We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The-Republic, or UNFTR. As a Young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-B-The-Republic, or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be. Featuring in-depth research, razor sharp commentary, and just the right

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So search for UNFDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. Hey everyone, welcome back to TYT, Adrian Lawrence, Dan Evans, and Anna Casparian with you. I just want to read a few member comments, make a few announcements, and then we'll move on to the rest of our news. In the super chats comments, Peter writes in and says, it would be easier for Elizabeth Warren to suspend her campaign and back Bernie. It may be a legitimate path heading towards Super Tuesday. That would, I think, salvage some of her reputation, but I don't think she's going to do that. I don't think that she has any interest in supporting his candidacy or certainly not dropping out or anything like that.

Yeah, I would love to see Warren as the VP still. I think that would work well electorally. But I think there's been a lot of stuff going on between both of them right now that I don't know if it'll be reconcilable between the two camps. Yeah, look, Bernie has gone out of his way to avoid attacking her. And I want him to continue doing that. I don't want him to, and he's just, he's bigger than that. Don't take the bait. Don't take the bait, exactly.

Even with all that she's been doing and it's been so devastating, right? Because she's right on issues and she has policy proposals that I really like. I don't know why she's going in this direction. It's just such a bad direction to go in. And like, look, coming out and saying, I'm struggling, okay, it's hard with Bloomberg. in this race. I don't know what to do. I'm falling behind because of this billionaire who can spend unlimited amounts of money on advertising. That's one thing. But she goes out of her way, even in the context of complimenting Amy Klobuchar. Why just survive back to school when you can thrive

by creating a space that does it all for you, no matter the size. Whether you're taking over your parents' basement or moving to campus, IKEA has hundreds of design ideas and affordable options to complement any budget. After all, you're in your small space era. It's time to own it. Shop now at IKEA.ca. To attack Bernie Sanders with these like ridiculous smears that you can easily debunk. I don't know, it's just politics is disgusting and it's dirty and sometimes I feel like it's not even worth it to fight for it. So let's go to TYT Lives. We have Tom Zawaki who says Pete Buttigieg, billionaires don't have dark money, it's laundered daily. That's a good one.

Kara Curley says, damn, Bernie has them all running scared to big money groups. Eddie O'Donnell Rowe says, it's finally safe to say definitely that Senator Warren has reneged on the progressive pledge and is maybe mildly progressive, perhaps not progressive at all. And then from our member comments, Rebel Fish says Wall Street Pete is now pathetically desperate, Pete, time to go back to the wine cave, Pete. Gabby Marita says Pete Buttigieg was 100% the sort of kid in high school who went to all teachers' offices when grades came out to whine about how an A-minus should really be an A.

I was kind of that student. It's all right. Polygall Pete. Yeah. Okay, so a few announcements. There is one week left to participate in the TYT dinner in LA sweepstakes. This is a partnership with aspiration. And what we're trying to do is have dinner with one of you guys who wins the sweepstakes.

And we'll fly you out to Los Angeles, put you up in a hotel, and then you get to have dinner with me, Jank, and John, it'll be awesome. So go to t.t.com slash dinner in LA to learn more on how you can enter to win. Also, we will be providing special coverage of the South Carolina debate, primary debate. If you're interested in watching, there will be a number of awesome panelists. You have John Iderola, Emma Viglin, Jank Yugar, and J.R. Jackson. You can watch on all those different platforms you see on your screen, Roku, Zumo, YouTube TV, Pluto, X-Frinity, X-1, X-Finity Flex.

We're all over the place. So Tuesday, February 25th is when the coverage starts 7 p.m. Pacific, 10 p.m. Eastern. All right, let's move on to the rest of the news. Charles Johnson is a single father who's currently suing Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles after his wife died during childbirth. This story is difficult. I'm just warning you guys before we toss to the video. But with that said, here is Charles Johnson explaining what happened to his wife. I can see the Foley catheter coming from Kura's bedside begin to turn pink with blood. He says doctors told them now three-year-old Langston's birth would be a routine cesarean section.

I just held her by her hands. I said, please, look, my wife isn't doing well. This woman looked me directly in my eyes and she says, sir, your wife just isn't a priority right now. It wasn't until 12.30 a.m. the next morning that they finally made the decision to take cure back to surgery. As critical minutes turned into hours, Johnson says he was continually ignored by staff at Cedas Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, as Cura's health continued to suffer. When they took care back to surgery and he opened her up, there were three and a half liters of blood in her abdomen from where she had been allowed to bleed internally for almost 10 hours. And her heart stopped immediately. Such a devastating story, but unfortunately it's not unique or isolated. This is actually a huge problem that is definitely prevalent among the African American community. Now, Charles Johnson told CNN, I started to do research myself. I realized, oh my gosh, we're in the midst of a maternal mortality crisis that isn't

just shameful for American standards. It's shameful on a global scale. So to give you a few statistics, America is the only developed country with a rising death rate for pregnant or new mothers. Approximately 700 of these women in the United States die each year. One of the richest countries in the world, and that's what happens. And one of the biggest issues is, you know, much like Kira's case, when a woman needs help, especially a black woman, and says she's in pain or isn't feeling right, oftentimes that

call for help will be ignored. And there are serious consequences to that. People literally die. I think a lot of people forget that the medical community would do experiments on black people for centuries. And essentially, poke, prod, cut us open. with this idea that we don't feel pain. And unfortunately, some of that has continued to press through to modern-day medicine

and medical care providers who continue to ignore women and especially black women when we let you know there is a problem. There's something I know. And we saw it with Serena Williams. And her trying to explain to the doctors, no, I have a problem. There's something going on. And literally having to throw a fit before they actually listen to her. And it really affects our daily lives and the possibility that we may end up admitted to a hospital in some way or some form.

And hey, they're not going to listen to us even though we're telling them there's something wrong. Yeah, it's like in the hospital, if we're too hysteric, we don't get any help or help or our pain is not treated as it's important. If we're too hysteric and the cops pull us over, we're dead. It goes to this thing you're saying that's like it's difficult just existing in this country as an African American sometimes. because it's like you're walking on eggshells just trying to be treated like a normal person. But like this is such an indictment on the healthcare system that like Republicans and a lot of Democrats are saying is the number one healthcare system in the world, the one that produces the best outcomes.

And this is happening. Cedars Sinai is a really good hospital. It is. It's one of the top hospitals, yes. Yeah, they're a phenomenal hospital. Like there are doctors who work there who are sure, fine, but like this happens in our healthcare system on a day-to-day basis. People say, like, oh, but other countries, they wait for their care.

People die waiting for their care here, and we do nothing about it. But no, God forbid, we have socialist burning care. That'll ruin things. And something also, too, I think, is important to note that blacks, indigenous, and Alaska Native women are two to three times more likely to die during childbirth or as a result of pregnancy-related complications than white women. And it's because doctors don't listen to us. And just like a quick story, I went out on a date, maybe six,

months ago, first date, I have no problem telling a man, I want triplets. The man, his response is, it's probably for the best because of the high maternal mortality rate for black women. It's the only way just to do it once. Oh, my God. Because you can't risk doing it more than once as you may not survive. It's an excellent pickup line. I'm going to use that.

Please do. Yeah. Wow. Works anytime, apparently. Good way of breaking up the depressing stuff. When he said that to me, I was like, oh, my God. Like, he was down it. He knew exactly.

Why and why it was so important? You want triplets? Dude, I can only do it once because like if I go into a doctor's office. Is that the only reason though? Oh, well that and they're like cute because they all look the same and you can like switch them up and you know? They look cute but there's three of them. I know, but what if one runs away?

I have an insurance policy, two more, we're good. Oh my God. I just always imagine like in middle school they just like switch them around and no one never knows who's like, oh wait, is it the twin who's in class today or one of them playing hooky? It's a sitcom way to happen. Sorry, I needed light in this story. story.

We did need that. We did need that. But let me give you a few more facts about this. It's a broader look at what's going on. So there's a nonprofit that does research and activism in the field and they came to more devastating unfortunately conclusions on this. Every mother count says many of their deaths are because of unequal health care or the unequal health care system and systemic racism.

Also an expert in the field added a well educated African American woman, which is a well educated African American woman with more than a high school education has a five-fold risk of death compared to a white woman with less than a high school education. So look, that might feel like a weird thing to bring up, but I think it's incredibly relevant because oftentimes when we talk about unfair treatment, it's seen through the lens of socioeconomic status. And that certainly plays a huge role. But even if you have two people with the same education, the same wealth, the same everything,

There's still a problem in the way that people are perceived, certain groups of people are perceived. And so I want to plug this, even though I have issues with some of their reporting, but the New York Times wrote a very detailed feature on how black women are most vulnerable to this. And it was just really well done. So please check that out. It was a good piece. And there are good reporters working at organizations that I don't necessarily. agree with all the time. So take a look at that article and more, and we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies

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In the meantime, enjoy this free segment. Hey, guys, welcome back to T-Y-T. A few member comments for you, and we'll move on. Not a Cheetah, I'm a lion, says, shame on this system. There's been a lot of shame in the show today. So I'm not sure which story you're talking about. But if it's about the last one that we discussed, yeah, definitely shame on it. Lexi Rex says, as a 21-year-old black woman, this is why I've decided not to have kids.

Sam Sue says, this is not just a black issue. My son almost died for the same reason. The doctors did not close up an incision. and he had severe internal bleeding, they finally checked him out, and when I physically threatened the entire staff, and when I physically threatened the entire staff, I'm tall and vicious looking. I'm glad that they did something, but the way you described yourself. Tina says black parents have given less pain medication, oh yeah, this is true, this was also

covered in the New York Times article that I plugged, black parents are given less pain medication than they need because of a bias that black people can tolerate more pain, we are given lower doses in order to be given less frequently. And Jessica says, the news is depressing me today, normally, more than it normally does. Yeah, you and me the same, definitely. All right, let's move on to the rest of the news. Bloomberg has said and done offensive and terrible things to pretty much every group that you could imagine other than wealthy white people.

And, I mean, the evidence speaks for itself. In fact, you worked with the CIA in order to do surveillance on Muslims in New York, in fact, the tri-state area, with absolutely no just cause. Okay, so there was no reason to be suspicious of them. But the CIA infiltrated student groups, charities, and various communities in an effort to spy on them. And here's what we know from the details. Now, there was an op-ed written that I highly recommend you all read, it's in the Washington Post. It was written by Assad Dandia, who is a Muslim American, and he says that Bloomberg's

NYPD spied on me for being Muslim. He's never apologized, and that's absolutely true. While he's been pressured and forced to apologize for other terrible things that he's done, including stop and frisk, which by the way didn't feel genuine at all, he hasn't apologize to the Muslim community at all. And so Assad writes, at 19, I was targeted by that discriminatory surveillance. And today, I'm reminded of how little the leaders responsible for it have grappled with the consequences. While in college in 2011, I co-founded a charity dedicated to serving the poor community or the poor in my community and in New York City.

We spent our weekends delivering groceries to families whom we knew could use the support. And as our work expanded to include feeding the homeless and establishing partnerships with other charity and relief organizations, we received volunteers and inquiries from all over the city. Now, at that point, he gets approached by someone who's interested in what his organization is doing, but Assad had no idea that this person was an informant. So he writes, in March of 2012, a man or a young man, message me over Facebook asking to get involved. He wanted to become a better Muslim and asked if there were any events or anything that he

could attend with me as a start. Now, they got very close, and at one point, he even invited this individual to his home to have dinner with his family. And then later that spring, two separate credible sources told me that the police were watching me. Apparently there was a file with my name on it somewhere. Then in the fall of 2012, a young man confessed, or the young man who had reached out to him, confessed on Facebook that he was an informant for the NYPD, the person I'd come to consider

a friend who ate food cooked by my mother's hands admitted it was all affront. And he said that there were others like him. So this has real ramifications for the Muslim community, right? It's not just, oh, they were being spied on, no, that leads to a lot of distrust, a lot of fear. I want to get to that in just a minute, but first, I wanted to get your thoughts as well. Oh, absolutely, in terms of the breach of trust. And man, the way it impacts you is something that it's very difficult to discuss.

that I've been subject to surveillance as well, and it really messes you up in terms of your ability to just interact with the world around you and to feel like you are a whole and complete part of it. And so to be targeted because of your ethnicity or because of your religion, it's so disappointing, especially when we have this American creed about equality and welcoming and everyone else. And to have Bloomberg really kind of sit down and say, oh, well, this was important for the safety of Americans and, you know, New Yorkers, it's, you know, you have to realize that everybody, they're New Yorkers, too, we're all Americans.

And so maybe our rights shouldn't necessarily be trampled upon. And he used the same justification for stop and for risk. Exactly. Right? I mean, how much, how many of our civil liberties have been violated with this nonsense talking point about keeping people safe, right? Yeah, it's just, it's a cop-out, like with all of our security and safety from surveillance has been a facade, if the government wants information, they're going to get it,

and other governments are a little bit more forthright with their doing it. In America and a lot of other countries, we just have this lie that, oh, we'll just do it in certain cases, and it's not this kind of dragnet where we're looking for everyone. But this specifically, like, at times racially and definitely religiously motivated charge, like NYPD, this is just what a city can do. Like, it kind of freaks you about what the government could do, but it just, to me, the most shocking, horrifying thing about this is being this person who feels like they have people in the community who they can go to, especially at a time when there's a lot of Islamophobia.

So you feel like you can speak to people who are close to you, who have your same background, and maybe tell them more. And that's why they want to use informants to investigate. I think there's a different article that was calling these people like mosque crawlers, the NYPD was, referring to, yeah, it's derogatory to even think of like, you're a human being, they don't crawl, or like babies crawl, but like regular people don't crawl, so it's just like kind of dehumanizing in that sense. But do they even see them as humans? Of course, they just see them as threats, that's it.

Yeah. They get treated as if they're not human, as if they're just dangerous animals that need to be kept, you know, people need to keep a lookout out for them. And it's, it hasn't changed, like let's just keep it real, it hasn't changed. Surveillance has only expanded since then. Yes, that's right. It hasn't stopped. And I love how they say, oh, well, you know, we need to follow and monitor these people

to keep you safe, yet, like, we notice like all these people like Weinstein, Epstein, all of these like white powerful men are out here engaging in all sorts of crime and misconduct. Yes, well, it's okay if you're a certain, you know, group of people, you can go ahead and rape minors all you want, you know, people will cover for you. Exactly. Not only cover for you, but they will, those people who are doing, though, those horrible acts will hire investigators and private people, if you read like Ronan Farrow's work, but they will hire people to investigate and spy on people who are trying, on the victims,

and people who are trying to shine a light on it. So it's very clear that a lot of the systems in the society only work for the powerful. It's not necessarily based on justice. Yep. So I also wanted to talk about one other angle to this story that I thought was fascinating because really shines a light on the Center for American Progress and the kind of garbage that they get involved in. So democracy now is reporting on how the Center for American Progress helped Bloomberg kind

of cover up the disgusting surveillance that he was doing on Muslims in the tri-state area. Now he was working with federal agents, with the CIA, and infiltrating various Muslim groups, including student groups, charities, mosques, in an effort to indiscriminately spy on anyone who's Muslim, right? with no cause whatsoever. And so back in 2015, according to a report by Democracy Now, the Center for American Progress published a major report on anti-Muslim bias in the United States, and though the draft included a chapter of more than 4,000 words about New York City police surveillance of Muslim communities under Bloomberg, the chapter was excised from the final report, as was any mention

of Bloomberg's name. Now this surveillance happened under Bloomberg's leadership with Bloomberg's involvement. There's no question about it, and it's something that he has refused to apologize about. Now, Democracy Now also reports that Yasmin Tabe, one of the people behind the report, says the authors were told to make major changes to the chapter or remove it. Other officials told the times they revised the report to make it focused on right wing groups targeting Muslims. Now, when the report came out, Bloomberg had already given the Center for American Progress three grants worth nearly $1.5 million, and he contributed $400,000 more in 2017. Tabe is now a member of the Democratic National Committee.

So this is what Bloomberg does. He's doing it right now as we speak. He's buying endorsements, he's putting unlimited amounts of money in these insanely deceptive ads, he's attempting to buy the Democratic nomination. And if that doesn't bother you enough, he has a history of targeting various disenfranchised groups with surveillance, with stop and frisk, with militarized police, all of it. That's who Bloomberg is. And up until recently, he was a Republican.

Something that the Center for American Progress should have a huge problem with, right? with, you know, all those criticisms toward Bernie Sanders as a registered independent in the state of Vermont. But when it comes to someone who's doling out the dough for the Center for American Progress, it's okay if you were a Republican since yesterday. It's disgusting. He's just buying a rewrite of history, you know, just change it. Let's forget those indiscretions. Let's forget that oppression. And here, have some money.

Everything will be better. And I don't know what yesterday, so California apologized for the Japanese internment camps, It was about 78 years ago that went down, and they're finally apologizing. So when I think about this Bloomberg situation, I'm like, I don't think there's going to be an apology coming anytime soon, unfortunately, but I'm sure there's a check somewhere. One would hope. I don't know, I used to love Think Progress back before it got gutted, but like I expect more of these groups, or at least I used to expect more of these groups who proclaim to be for

Democrats, for all the things liberals believe in, and they'll take money from such vile people, such as Mike Bloomberg, but no, I know better at this point. Of course, they'll take money from them. You have to be really careful about who these organizations are taking money for. Because even though they may seem to come off as like left or leaning liberally, it's all about who they're taking money from. Definitely. And there are plenty of bad actors on the left.

We know that for personal experience. So that's how it goes. All right, well, let's do one other story. And I think this is an interesting discussion because, you know, can Bill, Billionaires be good? So let's talk about that. So, all right, well, new reports claim that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has contributed $10 billion. It's a lot of money, $10 billion to combat climate change.

But the claim does deserve a closer look. So here's what we know so far, okay? The Amazon founder is giving $10 billion to a new initiative that will fund programs to combat the effects of climate change. change, and that's what he said in an Instagram post. The Bezos Earth Fund comes after years of criticism that the billionaire was not doing enough charitable work with his extraordinary wealth. And let's not forget how he obtained that extraordinary wealth. He did so through a company, Amazon, that contributes quite a bit to this very real existential

threat to humanity, climate change. So details are scarce, I think that's an important thing to keep in mind about how exactly this fund will be structured and the exact type of work that it will fund, the $10 billion from Bezos will exclusively fund charitable work with no private investments, and that's according to a person familiar with the gift. And then I want to just quickly read you what Bezos said on his post about this. Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet, which is why he loves to contribute to it, I guess. I want to work alongside others, both to amplify known ways and explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share.

And then he goes on. Thoughts. So I've always had this issue with Amazon and essentially just their cardboard boxes and all that stuffing that they send you. Yes. And you might order a roll of tape and they're going to send it in this huge box. And then you have the box to deal with and how guilty it makes you feel to the point where you're like, you know, this is doing nothing but contributing to the climate issues. And this is problematic. But the thing I have that is more problematic is the fact is, again, details are scarce. We have no idea how this is going to be run and structured or when it will really get

off the ground. This could just be something to pat himself on the back for and say, hey, I'm going to do something. And it gives, I think, dishonest actors fodder, right? The whole thing about like, you see, billionaires are good. We don't need to, they don't need to pay their taxes. Because every once in a while, sporadically, and with no real details, they might donate $10 billion dollars to a cause that we care about. No, that's not good enough.

Even if we had details, and even if we knew that the amount of money he's using is, is, or donating, contributing, is being used in a way that we're okay with, it's still, like, leaving the situation up to the whims of billionaires, and that is not the way to combat real issues, including climate change, inequality, housing, all of that stuff. Yeah, this is a circumstance of our capitalist culture. And what I mean by that is that we glorify billionaires. It's literally like a number, you reach the highest number, you're the richest person, you're the most successful person, you work the hardest.

And now we're deciding that therefore we now elect you to solve our problems. So Elon Musk, you're NASA now, go solve NASA and go get us to space. Because you're rich and you solve all the problems, never mind that you're a maniac. Grimes his new album is fine. Jeff Bezos, like, his climate stuff, even though he basically built a bigger version of FedEx where they have a bunch of planes that are shipping everyone their groceries in a day or so, like he's contributing to climate change and he's saying, oh, I'll just give $10 billion of my money, am I not gracious?

Why can't we just tax Jeff Bezos $10 billion? Why can't we- It's like, if you're so willing to part for your money for climate change, then Jeff Bezos, let's do a one-time $10 billion tax, since Amazon isn't paying a lot of taxes apparently, $10 billion tax to solve climate change. The government gets to do it because that way that money is more accountable. And it's not just these, oh, it's private, no private investments, just charities, charities who now become at the whim of whatever Jeff Bezos wants to fund. So if it's a certain type of climate project, then maybe Jeff Bezos will throw a couple

million to it. It doesn't matter, it's a rounding error. But if it's a climate project that in any way sort of damages his bottom line, anything that Amazon is doing, not just carbon offsets. Like, oh, we'll plant a tree for every five Amazon factories that we build. No, like, if it actually starts to undercut his business, which parts of the Green New Deal will undercut business, but it'll create more businesses, then Jeff Bezos is not going to touch it. And so that's why we say, like, every billionaire is a policy failure.

Jeff Bezos is not going to miss $10 billion. He has, like, more than $90 billion. And if he missed, like, all, if he missed $45 billion, let's say, tax Jeff Bezos is at $45 billion, his life doesn't change. No one's life changes. But look at how much we could do potentially with this money. His life wouldn't change. but the reason why we don't tax him the $10 billion is because it's not a one-time thing.

That's a consistent tax, right? And I mean, we're just using the $10 billion figure, but just this fair share of taxes, Amazon's fair share of taxes. Amazon paid nothing in taxes last year, right? That's the issue that you, as an average American, either working class, middle class, you're not wealthy, but you pay your taxes, you see it taken out of your check every single, you know, time you get paid. Why is an average American who's, by the way, struggling?

to get by with stagnant wages, paying more in taxes than Amazon is, paying more in taxes than the richest man in the world is. That makes no sense. But Anna, Amazon, Jeff Bezos is a billionaire and he just decided out of the goodness of his heart to raise the wages at Amazon to be $15 an hour, just out of the goodness of his heart. He thought about it himself and he decided to do it because he's a billionaire and he's a genius. Never mind that Bernie Sanders pressured Amazon to make sure they raise the wages to $15 an hour

there. Never mind, there's outside political pressure that Jeff Bezos didn't want to cave to. He just did it because he's great and he's a billionaire. We should worship them. Tax the hell out of all of these people. Do it, please. Yes. Like, ugh. Not that I think they're so afraid of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, because that's, I think that's a reality that they face. Yeah, definitely. All right. Adrian Lawrence, Dan Evans, thank you for joining us. This was great. And we're going to take a short break. When we come back, we'll have a whole new panel and more stories to share with you. Come right back. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks.

Support our work, listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.